Wavves - Wavvves

Label: De Stijl
Release Date: 03/02/09
Website: http://www.myspace.com/wavves
"Bedroom," "4-track," and "noise" are three descriptive terms that are impossible to dodge as of late.Â Most of the time they're seen as one â "Bedroom-noise-pop," or even "4-track-bedroom-noise."Â Any of the previous would be an adequate description of San Diego based [Insert-your-own-here], Wavves.Â After listening to Nathan Williams' first self-titled and self-released album, I pounced on the chance to ...

Label: De Stijl
Release Date: 03/02/09
Website:http://www.myspace.com/wavves
"Bedroom," "4-track," and "noise" are three descriptive terms that are impossible to dodge as of late.Â Most of the time they're seen as one â "Bedroom-noise-pop," or even "4-track-bedroom-noise."Â Any of the previous would be an adequate description of San Diego based [Insert-your-own-here], Wavves.Â After listening to Nathan Williams' first self-titled and self-released album, I pounced on the chance to review his De Stijl released, and also self-titled album Wavves.
Wavvves kicks off with the typical atmospheric and cacophonous intro we have come to expect from most subterranean albums â bloops, blips, bleeps and buzzing space-travel chimes reminiscent of "Lost In Space." Not knowing if I was supposed to be terrified or roused, the paranoidÂ opener serves as a nice build-up to what is ultimately and unfortunately, a let-down.Â It seems as if each track is a build-up to the next, but never culminating in whatever our ears and subconscious want it to be. Like a wave that approaches shore, getting bigger and gaining speed, yet never breaking (I just had to. Sorry).
The easiest comparisons are to fellow Californians, No Age, yet Wavves lacks the snotty, balls-to-the-wall-ness that makes No Age such a tour-de-force.Â Most of the manic-beach-laden tracks build up steam, but fail to deliver.Â On standout tracks "No Hope Kids" and "So Bored," the muddy vocals somehow shine through the layers of scuzz, and standout for a reason â they both follow the same verse-into-"a-la-la" equation, and at least to my ears, sound far too similar.Â Separating these two songs is the album's longest track, "More Fur," which clocking in at exactly 4:20 (how fitting), is what the generating of electricity probably sounded like in the 1970s, layered with what can only be the sound of running a swarm of locusts through a delay pedal...4:20 indeed.Â The next three tracks all contain the word 'Goth' in the title and while they happen to be the more enjoyable tracks on the album, "Summer Goth 2" and "Surf Goth" sound entirely too much like each other, and "Goth Girls," well that one sounds as if the band Growing was doing a cover of a Growing song.
San Diego isn't really a locale I associate with this type of music â come to think of it, any type of music at all. Yet the environmental influence is one that is apparent throughout the album.Â I know San Diego is known for its immaculateÂ weather, but for the rest of us bearing 20-30 degree winter weather, this album would have been much better suited for a summer release.Â There's a ton of buzz surrounding Wavves at the moment, and I'm sure that I'll be met with waves (this is too easy) of backlash, but if I'm going to invest my time in cassette experimentation, I'll just lock myself in a dark room and listen to The Skaters.